There have been many efforts at printing carpeting, and many different techniques have been devised. Apparatus for printing carpeting falls generally into one of two categories. There is intermittent printing wherein a discrete section of the carpeting is placed with respect to the printing means, the printing is accomplished, and the carpeting is moved to expose a new section of carpeting to the printing means. Also, there is continuous printing wherein the carpeting moves continuously, and is printed continuously. The prior art continuous printing apparatus has generally included rotary printers utilizing either a roller or a belt to transfer an image to a continuously moving carpet. The rollers have included the use of an intaglio design which is filled with dye to be transferred to the carpeting, or a raised design, the raised portion being coated with dye to be subsequently transferred to a continuously moving carpet. The belt arrangements have included generally a silk screen arrangement whereby dye is passed through the belt and onto a continuously moving carpet. There have also been efforts to print a design by disposing a plurality of spray nozzles adjacent to a continuously moving carpet, and controlling the spraying of the various nozzles to apply the desired color at the desired time.
With the prior art techniques and apparatus for printing carpet, there have been the continual problems of precisely defining a pattern without blurring or smearing, especially if the pattern is one that required sharp lines and careful definition. Some of the prior art techniques have also had difficulty in applying the right amount of dye stuff to the various areas of the carpeting to achieve the desired amount of dye saturation and penetration of the pile fabric. In much of the prior art apparatus, when the proper amount of dye has been applied to the carpeting, the carpeting must be steamed in order to set the dye, then washed thoroughly and dried. This finishing of the carpeting required extremely large amounts of energy both in the setting of the dye and in the final drying of the carpet. There have been some efforts in the prior art to treat carpeting through the use of a foamed material, but the prior art apparatus has generally required that the foam be generated remotely and handled extensively before being applied to the carpeting. As a result, the chemistry for the foam has been rather elaborate, requiring materials to maintain the foam for extended periods of time which may further result in the necessity for mechanical breakdown of the foam when the foam is ultimately applied to the fabric to make the foam penetrate the fabric.